Motkaluk takes aim at city permit process

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This article was published 14/09/2022 (735 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayoral candidate Jenny Motkaluk promises to slash the wait time to get city permits.

She noted a 2019 provincial report estimated the City of Winnipeg was losing significant tax revenue due to delays at its planning, property and development department.

“(The province said) hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax revenue for the city itself is lost every day because of inefficiency in the permit office and… I’ve got to tell you, if I have to, I will burn that thing down and start it from scratch because it is the single biggest barrier to growth and success in this city,” said Motkaluk, during a Thursday press conference.

The Manitoba Treasury Board Secretariat review Motkaluk cited was backed by several members of the business community at the time. By contrast, city officials and others dismissed it for relying heavily on unnamed stakeholders and lacking detail about individual complaints.

But Motkaluk said she’s heard repeatedly from small businesses that the findings were and remain accurate three years later.

“Every single business person, every not-for-profit, every daycare has been up against unacceptable delays in the permit office,” she said.

Under her leadership, Motkaluk said the city would hire a contractor to impose lean management practices, beginning with the property and development department, and eventually extending to all city departments.

Lean management is a technique that aims to minimize waste and maximize the value of a product or service, without compromising quality.

Motkaluk did not provide a specific example of where waste might be eliminated to get permits out faster. She said the contractor would identify specific areas in need of improvement and how to achieves those goals, including a target to reduce permit wait times by 50 per cent.

The candidate held her announcement outside the Perogy Planet store on Main Street. Store owner Rob Naleway said he was frustrated by a recent city permit delay to make a small change at one of his five stores.

“Literally, we built one wall and we didn’t even change the electrical… and we were waiting six, seven weeks for a permit … we’re talking about a very simple plan,” said Naleway.

In an emailed statement, a city spokesperson said the planning, property and development department has been incorporating lean management since 2019, with steps that included: adding a permit intake triage system for general residential permits; expanding online permit options; creating a “permits direct line” to direct customer questions to the correct staff; and launching more online request options for commercial building and trade permit inspections.

“(An assigned) team works closely with staff to create or redesign existing structures, systems, processes, and strategies to create efficiencies and offer an improved level of customer service,” wrote Kalen Qually.

The city says it has had success in meeting target wait times, and it publicly tracks how long it takes to complete an initial review of specific permit applications.

“(We have) published permit application processing times for initial complete review times against targets that have been set in collaboration with industry. We successfully met these targets on all streams of building permits,” said Kalen Qually.

For example, the median wait time for the initial review of a row housing permit throughout July and August 2022 was 19 days, slightly less than the city target of 20.

Qually said it can take more time to finalize a permit after an initial response, such as when more work is required to meet city standards. The city also lists specific application and approval dates for individual projects.

Meanwhile, mayoral contender Rick Shone is vowing to change the way elected officials “do business” at city hall, if he’s elected.

Under Shone’s plan, the city would record all votes at council and committee meetings, include all council members in the budget development process, add a council liaison position to the mayor’s office to provide “a constant point of contact for all councillors,” increase councillor ward allowances by 25 per cent, enhance collaboration with other governments and limit the number of executive policy committee members to six, among other steps.

Winnipeggers will elect their next mayor and council on Oct. 26.

Joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Joyanne loves to tell the stories of this city, especially when politics is involved. Joyanne became the city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press in early 2020.

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